Yessss I got to feed an elephant! And this little guy was just a baby! I also rode an elephant, but the picture from that isn't as exciting. I think I look excited enough in this one....
Just giving a quick wei to Ronald outside of Mackers in Phuket!
A member of the long neck tribes in northern Thailand. This was the first village that we visited on my hill tribe trek. Only the females wear those things around their necks, starting as young as 5. There were no men in the village, as they're usually out in the jungle during the day.
This one is at the Grand Palace in Bangkok on the first day of my trip. It was my first exposure to the really amazing architecture of SE Asia.There will definately be more to come but the internet in Cambodia just is not like the internet in the US--it takes about 10 minutes to upload each of these photos!
In the meantime, I'll let you know what I've been up to!
I think I forgot to write about Koh Phi Phi from when I was back in Phuket about two weeks ago. Anyway, on Pat's last day we managed to make it out to the Phi Phi Islands, where part of the movie "The Beach"was shot. It was really beautiful, with crystal clear water and tons of fish and coral. We went snorkelling and went around the islands for an afternoon on a speed boat. We also made a stop on one beach where we all got off the boat and got to feed the monkeys who live there. That was pretty amazing. And one of our guides was giving the monkey's Pepsi which, while it was funny, didn't really sit well with me since monkeys aren't supposed to have a clue what Pepsi is, and they were jonesin' it, as if it were cocaine or something...
Anyway, after Pat left, I spent two days in Koh Samui without doing much. I really just took the time to relax and take it easy after the craziness that was Phuket. I laid out by the pool and read a whole bunch, but not much more than that. Really, I didn't even speak to anyone as, literally, no one spoke english at my hotel or in the area.
After hanging around and waiting to hear from Lord, who I was supposed to be meeting on Koh Samui, he emailed to tell me he was on Koh Phangan so the next day I hopped on the ferry to get over there. I checked into a bungalow right on the beach--really beautiful--for $15 a night and hung around, meeting the people who were staying there. I met up with Lord that night and headed down to Haat Rin, where there are lots of clubs, etc, but since it was a Buddhist holiday, it was pretty empty so we headed back to where he and his friends were staying, at Phangan Lodge, and made a fire on the beach and managed, somehow, to stay up and watch the sunrise. At about 8 am, when we were headed to my bungalow to get my stuff and check me out of the place, he and his friends Nick and Bryan straight out told me that I wasn't leaving before the full moon party, which was taking place on the 19th--three days later. But it didn't take much to convince me, as I had heard so much about it. I skipped my flight the next day and hung out longer--which actually meant that I couldn't make it to Laos, but I've decided that it's better to hang around a place and get a real sense of it than to rush through it, just to be able to say that you've seen it.
The next few days we just hung out around the island. Lord and Co. had rented motorbikes so one afternoon Lord and Bryan and I headed north to a really beautiful beach on the West coast of the island, where we swam for a little bit. The next day the boys went on a snorkelling trip called Reggae Magic, while I stayed behind to read and relax before that night's big Full Moon Party.
When they got back, they all napped while I read some more (I've gotten a lot of reading done since Pat left!) and I woke them up around 10:30 to get ready. "Getting ready" just meant painting ourselves with black-light reactive paint and heading down to the beach.
It was absolutely wild. We got there around midnight and the party was in full swing. The beach was packed and all the clubs were playing various kinds of music while everyone was dancing outside on the sand. The guys and I managed to steal a table which was in the middle of everything and we were able to dance and watch everyone from up there. It was pretty amazing. The Full Moon Party is also the reason that Thai buckets are so famous -- Thai whiskey, Red Bull, and Coke--which allow people to party until 9:00 the next morning, as we did. It was rainy that night, though, so the paint was everywhere--eventually rubbing off completely--and at one point the power went out and the entire beach fell silent, followed by a huge cheer from everyone. It was pretty cool....
Anyway, then I headed on an overnight bus to Bangkok, where I caught a taxi to the airport and flew to Phnom Penh in Cambodia (whatever you might hear, overnight buses are not all that comfy! I slept about 2 hrs). I'll update with more news and stories from Cambodia when I put more pictures up....
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